The Decameron ...LOVE..Jeff Inoa

As we know in society there are many things that create divisions between people, such are economically, culturally, status of you nobility, and political associations. These factors can interfere with the freedom of loving someone such as it happen to the love story of Guiscardo and Ghismunda which ended in a tragic way. But, sometimes Love in itself can overcome these factors as did the love of Caterina and Ricciardo which has a happy ending.

Ghismunda the daughter of Tancredi, Prince of Salerno is a widowed who is trapped, and guarded by the love of her father. Ghismunda secretly finds the love of her life which is Guiscardo who works for her father. Both Ghismunda and Guiscardo are madly in love with each other, but when her father discovers this he is insulted and ashamed. Tancredi feels betrayed because of her being with somebody of a lower class than her and her family. When Guiscardo was captured, before being killed he said ““Love is more powerful than either you or I”( The Decameron 84) revealing that the love he has for Ghismunda is so true and pure and uncontrollable. And it shows that Ghismunda being for a higher class than Guiscardo had no negative effect on the pureness of their love for one another.

When Tancredi confronts his daughter Ghismunda about this situation, she says “ Tancredi, I am disposed neither to deny nor beg, since the former would not avail me, and I do not wish to avail myself of the latter” ( The Decameron 83). As you can she does not beg for her father’s forgiveness as most females would do in that time and period, she makes it known of his cruelty and that he was wrong for what he did, therefore going against what is usually correct in the society she is living in. She kills herself to be with Guiscardo the true love of her life, representing that the rights of women should be recognized and that class difference does not matter when it comes to love.